The Impact Social media had on the 2020 US Presidential Election
Joe Biden- BBC News/Getty Images.
If the words “by failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” have not been ingrained in your mind by now, well then, I’m pleased to have introduced them to you. Originally coined by Benjamin Franklin, it is quite fitting that such a saying would link directly to the body of this blog, as Mr. Franklin knows all too well about US politics given the fact that he is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and essentially, the contributing factor as to why last year’s running contenders, Joe Biden and Donald Trump, embodied the aphorism through the course of their US Presidential campaigns.
In a day and age where an estimated 3.6 billion people have evolved to execute their profiles professionally on social media and the world to work off the basis of technology itself, it is safe to say that there are times where even if the internet has all the resources to describe fundamental times, such as the 2020 US Presidential election, unfortunately many of us still feel outsized by the turbulency of it all.
Social Media Plan.
From the very beginning of the US Presidential election, both running candidates sought to showcase their dominancy over each other across various social media platforms, in order to project their overall campaign trail. However, throughout Joe Biden’s strategized social media plan, he became the front-runner in respect to his various social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok and of course, the Presidential election itself.
Essentially, one of the major upsides to either candidate during the course of this Presidential election was the ability social media has to manipulate the population into constantly being flooded with reminders and updates about the progress of the election and more importantly, the voting appeal each contender had during that time. Whilst former US President, Donald Trump, was quick to consistently voice his self-promotional and critical analysis of certain figures on Twitter during the 2016 US Presidential election, it was evident to see that all of these previous tweet dimensions soon shifted to a more targeted and baseless approach in order to seek the most interaction online throughout the 2020 Presidential election. However, in the long run, these negative connotations and lack of evidence soon proved to dampen Trump’s appeal to the nation, leaving the door open for Mr. Biden to come and take victory come November 7th, 2020.
Issues Advocacy
In comparison to Trump, Joe Biden advocated the main topics concerning the United States in an empathetic and encouraging manner across a broad range of social media channels. In particular, his effective one-to-one conversational tones truly played a critical role in securing his place in the White House, as he managed to convey a sense of unity through carefully crafting his social media presence online when it came to a surge in constant media coverage of predominant factors in America such as the Black Lives Matter movement and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Whilst many critics were sceptical of Mr. Biden’s age, previous political dealings, and his questionable cognitive health diagnosis by Donald Trump himself, Joe Biden left any uncertainty behind when he sought to demonstrate the art of mastering the balance between communicating effectively to a disheartened nation and proving his political earnestness in such a distinct and embracive manner.
In retrospect, Joe Biden understood that in order to propel his existence on various social media channels, he would need a committed team to support him throughout the Presidential election and essentially market his Presidential ambitions in a unique fashion. In doing so, Biden cleverly put together a niche committee of experienced social media workers to further target challenging demographics who may have overlooked him if it was not for the support of his social media marketing plan. In particular, Joe Biden looked to connect and heal the nation of America and thus, used the benefits of social media platforms such as Twitter and TikTok to exemplify his main Presidential ambitions concerning health, poverty, and racial injustices.
Targeting the Youth Vote
One such area to which Biden and his team conveyed their potential administration stance, was when both Joe Biden and Jen Psaki, Biden’s Press Secretary, took the opportunity to demonstrate their political willingness by introducing a unique approach to targeting specific age groups across social media channels by participating in select Question and Answer videos that helped bridge the gap between the general public and the often-secluded nature of political figures. These coordinated videos displayed across a multitude of well-known social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram, mainly showcased Biden’s uplifting and passionate tone, whilst also capturing the essence of what a future leader would look like-composed, well informed, and united with their people.
Moreover, unlike his main opposition, Biden struck gold when he set about reaching out to the American youth, who came together to highlight the importance of voting in the 2020 election and educating potential voters about the heightened issues of Covid-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement. Fundamentally, as Biden had appealed so much to the youth of America, specific content creators across a variety of social media sites began to voice their own support for the Democratic candidate. The account, @TikTokForBiden, launched in November 2020 before the American Presidential election, where a group of over 200 TikTok creators utilised their platforms on TikTok, in which one creator stated how their goals for the account were “registering young people to vote, raising awareness about the election, and eventually, putting Joe Biden in the White House.”
Evidently, Biden’s Party capitalised on their online outreach and in doing so, they created a perception of what the American nation needed at that time, which was human interaction, intimacy, and connection through the successful devices of social media channels much like TikTok and Twitter. Yet, without these core and fundamental movements showcased across various Social Media platforms, it is evident that Joe Biden and his administration would not have effectively been able to convey the true tone of their political campaign, whilst also demonstrating the importance of reaching a mass population of people to help implement necessary changes right across America.
Sealing the deal.
All in all, whilst Donald Trump altered his social media presence to a more critical and misinformative stature, Joe Biden took the correct initiative towards social media by simply being present for the American people and conveying a deep sense of empathy, hope, and most importantly, unity. With the additional support of his communications team, Mr. Biden was effectively able to communicate and connect with all age demographics across a major spectrum of social media platforms, which in the end, enabled him to seal the deal and become America’s 46th President.
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